Judge David Ticehurst told Carpenter it was 'a pity' she hadn't simply talked to her employer about her difficulties.

"Now, at 55 you have a criminal conviction," he said. "But you confessed at the outset, and you told the police what you did.

"I have no doubt you will pay the money back. It seems to me that the real criminality lies in the hands of the loan sharks, who used inflated and swinging interest to turn a £400 debt into one of £4,000 in a matter of weeks."